Xavier’s Jordan Crawford goes up for a shot over Minnesota’s Colton Iverson in the first half of their 2010 NCAA men’s basketball tournament game at the Bradley Center on March 19, 2010 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

MILWAUKEE — A national champion has never passed through a Milwaukee regional, but one of the Kardashian exes has.

Some lamentable Bucks draft picks were showcased here, but so was one the greatest players in the history of the game.

Christian Laettner did not make his famous shot against Kentucky at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, but one of the greatest finishes in NCAA Tournament history was played out in our midst.

The tournament is back this week for the seventh time, including its debut here in 1984 at the old Arena. And while Milwaukee in March may not have the historical allure of springtime at Kemper or the Spectrum, it has had its moments.

Some of the most successful coaches in NCAA history have worked here, including Rollie Massimino, Denny Crum, Nolan Richardson, Bobby Cremins, Tom Izzo, Lute Olson, Bo Ryan and Bill Self while at Tulsa.

Regrettably, the late Rick Majerus, Milwaukee’s own, had stepped down at Utah a month or so before the Utes appeared in the 2004 regional.

Controversy also was visited upon Milwaukee that year. At 29-4, Pittsburgh came in with a colossal chip on its gifted shoulders at being seeded third. Wisconsin, the Big Ten tournament winner, also had a legitimate beef at No. 6, which meant it eventually had to play the Panthers. That one did not go so well for the locals.

But none quite like Tim Duncan, who had rock-star presence as a junior when he accompanied his Wake Forest teammates to the Bradley Center in 1996. The Demon Deacons got by Louisiana-Monroe and Texas here before losing to Kentucky in the Elite Eight. Nearly 20 years later and the guy is still at it.

On the flip side, the late Robert Traylor, notable for his part in the Bucks’ draft-day trade of Dirk Nowitzki, was a member of the 1996 Michigan team that appeared here.

Third-seeded Arkansas also played here in 1992, just a few months before the NBA draft. The showcasing of Todd Day and Lee Mayberry may have had undue influence on the Bucks, who selected both in the first round while bypassing local guy Latrell Sprewell.

Of course, Sprewell has had his problems, kind of like Lamar Odom, the least of which was his recent breakup with Khloe Kardashian. Odom was here in 1999 with Rhode Island, not long after his suspiciously high test scores at UNLV attracted attention from the NCAA police.

The best teams in terms of overall finishes were the 1999 Michigan State Spartans, the only No. 1 seed ever in Milwaukee, and the 2004 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Michigan State lost to Kentucky in the Elite Eight. Third-seeded Georgia Tech lost to Connecticut in the national championship game.

The best individual performance? Xavier’s Jordan Crawford, the Indiana transfer who dunked on LeBron James when Crawford was still in high school, scored 28 points against Minnesota in 2010. Then he came back two days later with 27 in the upset against third-seeded Pitt.

The best game occurred in 1992, Georgia Tech vs. Southern California. In fact, it was one of the best NCAA buzzer-beaters ever.

With eight-tenths of a second left and Tech down by two, Geiger almost didn’t inbound the ball in time. In fact, Cremins already was walking toward the USC bench to shake hands because he thought a 5-second turnover had been called. When Geiger could not find Barry or Best, he got it to the fourth option, freshman James Forrest.

Zero for three on three-pointers that season, Forrest drilled it.

Al McGuire, who was working the game on TV, put the proper exclamation point on the drama by yelling, “Holy mackerel!”

The only topper might be if one of this year’s teams gets to the Final Four and actually wins it. The second-seeded Badgers are a 20-to-1 shot. You’ve got to like those odds better than Forrest’s chances of knocking down the three that still resonates in the building.

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